Campers which are mountable into the beds of pickup trucks so as to provide the amenities of home in remote locations continue to be very popular. In use, it has been an accepted drawback that the interior volume of the camper is somewhat restricted as increasing the size of the camper will quickly exceed the weight restrictions for the vehicle, will increase wind resistance thereby degrading performance of the pickup truck during travel, and, if the camper is merely made longer, exceeds the length of the pickup truck box and acceptable overhang.
Applicant is, however, aware of an attempt to overcome such limitations in the prior art, in particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,954 which issued Aug. 29, 1978 to Wall for an expandable camper apparatus. Wall discloses an expandable camper apparatus for use with a pickup truck, where the apparatus includes a false floor for the pickup truck bed so as to form storage space therebeneath in which is stored a hinged, foldable floor member for a tent. In use, the floor member is removed from the pickup truck bed, unfolded, and becomes the floor of a large tent constructed adjacent to the rear of the pickup truck. An obvious drawback is that, because of the false floor, the camper is elevated in the pickup truck bed, thereby decreasing the stability of the camper. Further, once the floor is deployed, no provision is made for a supporting structure for the tent, so that any supporting structure required by the tent has to be stowed elsewhere, as for example, within the camper.
Applicant is also aware of the following United States patents which relate generally to camper conversions for vehicles, none of which teach nor suggest the deployable frame structure and method of the present invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,065,166; 4,133,571; 4,223,939; 4,279,440; 4,544,195; 4,858,986; and 4,930,837.